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Bok Bok & Manara are two people from Camberwell (South East London) who love everything to do with “bass, drum and treble” – as D Double E from Newham Generals nicely puts it.
We caught up with one half of the duo – Bok Bok – to talk bass, bass and… Come Grime With Me?
Behind the scenes at Come Grime With Me ...
JP: Who are you?
BOK BOK: I’m Bok Bok, a DJ, producer and promoter from South East London. I make and play bass-heavy club music, including grime, house & garage, and run the Night Slugs club night with my good friend L-Vis 1990.
JP: When did you realise you had the skills to DJ?
BOK BOK: I didn’t have skills straight away, but practice makes perfect. It’s the old 8bar grime stuff that made me want to get involved, get my hands dirty and start DJing, so I just got some very budget decks and taught myself how to do it really.
JP: What is about grime/bass music that makes you love it so much?
BOK BOK: It’s the raw energy. I can’t stand still when I hear that music, it makes me want to either move and dance, or get stuck in and DJ, or make a track. It’s an energy conductor.
JP: What sound are you on to at the moment? Are you still ‘grime neeks’, or are you now ‘funky geeks’?
BOK BOK: Grime was my first love as a DJ and all of them records from when I started out are always going to have a place in my heart. There’s still riddims being made by certain producers that have got that carnival hype that I’m after in my grime tunes, but a lot of it just sounds like typical rap right now and I’m not too into that.
My sound borrows as much from house as it does from grime. Right now I’m playing a lot of stuff from the UK funky scene, but also there’s a next wave or producers making hybrid material, people like the Hessle Audio camp, Brackles, Shortstuff, Greena, Kingdom, Zomby, Ikonika etc, who are all helping to define a new generation of forward thinking club/bass music.
JP: If people were to look at you and say you look like any old Shoreditch trendies that know nothing about UK underground music, what would you say to them?
BOK BOK: Boy. (Laugh) I don’t about that, because I’ve been doing this since 2004 which is longer than most of the kids that are just getting into it. I’d say people who think like that need to stop jumping to conclusions and stop making quick judgements, but I haven’t really had that problem before to be honest.
JP: I hear you’re a budding producer now as well, true?
BOK BOK: Yeah you heard right, I’ve been producing music for a hot minute now. Myself and L-Vis 1990 have got an EP forthcoming on Dress 2 Sweat and I’ve got a few remixes out right now as well. We did a bootleg ’street refix’ of ‘Bongo Jam’ by Crazy Cousinz earlier this year that was picked up by a lot of different DJs. I’ve got remixes out for likeminded artists like Dre Skull, Egyptrixx and Secret Agent Gel, all of which you can buy on Juno/Beatport. It’s just all about solidifying this crossover hybrid vibe that we’ve been on for the last few years.
JP: Ok, ‘Come Grime With Me’ that has been somewhat of a internet hit, how has that been for you?
BOK BOK: ‘Come Grime With Me’ was funny. They got my age wrong; I’m not 22 by the way (laughs). But yeah it was good fun, I hope it becomes a series. I did a remix of the Come Dine With Me them tune that you can hear throughout the video as well. Listen out for it next time you watch the show (laughs).
JP: Future plans?
BOK BOK: For the future we’re going to carry on promoting the club night, carry on setting the trend with our bookings and other than that, more mixtapes, more original productions. I just want to carry on pushing this thing forward. We’re also about to launch Night Slugs as a digital label and have got a few hot releases lined up already, so keep your eyes through the second half of 2009!
